Coast FIRE by amount saved
Find the balance closest to yours and read across. Each figure is the yearly spending that money supports at 65 if you stop contributing today.
What each balance pays for at 65
The same dollar amount means very different things at 30 and at 50. At 30 it has 35 years to compound; at 50 it has 15, and the gap between those two columns is the whole argument for starting early.
| Invested today | Starting at 30 | Starting at 40 | Starting at 50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100K | $15,177 | $10,369 | $7,084 |
| $200K | $30,354 | $20,737 | $14,167 |
| $300K | $45,531 | $31,106 | $21,251 |
| $500K | $75,886 | $51,843 | $35,418 |
| $1M | $151,771 | $103,687 | $70,837 |
| $3M | $455,314 | $311,061 | $212,510 |
These use a 7% return, 3% inflation and a 4% withdrawal rate, all in today's dollars, and leave out Social Security. Each page below adds a 3.5% column, checks the balance against four retirement budgets at every age from 25 to 55, and walks through one person's plan. If your balance falls between two rows, the Coast FIRE calculator takes any amount, and the Coast FIRE number by age works the question from the other end.
Pick your balance
- Coast FIRE with $100KOn its own, $100,000 isn't Coast FIRE for any normal retirement budget. At 25 it grows to about $459,000 in today's dollars by 65, which pays about $18,400 a year at 4%. What gets you there is what you add next.
- Coast FIRE with $200K$200,000 is Coast FIRE only for a young saver with a small budget: at 25 it grows to about $918,000 in today's dollars by 65, enough for about $36,700 a year. In your 40s it isn't, until you count Social Security.
- Coast FIRE with $300KAt 30 or younger, $300,000 is already Coast FIRE for a $40,000-a-year retirement. At 36 it's about two-thirds of the way there for a $55,000 budget, and the date you reach it depends heavily on the return you assume.
- Coast FIRE with $500KIf you're 35 or younger, $500,000 is already Coast FIRE for a $60,000-a-year retirement. At 40 it pays about $52,000 a year from 65, and at 45 about $43,000, before Social Security.
- Coast FIRE with $1MUp to age 45, $1 million is Coast FIRE for an $80,000-a-year retirement, and up to 50 for $60,000. At that point the better question is how soon you could stop working altogether.
- Coast FIRE with $3MAt every age from 25 to 55, $3 million is Coast FIRE for up to $100,000 a year of retirement spending. For most people with this much, the question is whether they need to work at all.